Born Proud
by PenguinAzelia
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke was born proud— and he is not one to admit to being in pain, which is why Sakura is unsettled with his frequent trips to the hospital to see her. With his chakra blocks coming more often and worse every time, she wonders how much longer she can keep it a secret and what she can do to try to find a cure. SasuSaku.
1. Chapter 1

Sasuke Uchiha was born proud. Even through his clan's massacre, his older brother's actions, and his own ignorance— he still stood tall. After the war, many still feared him and shunned him but he did not waver. He had betrayed his village and then was welcomed back by his old mentor and now Hokage of the Leaf, Kakashi Hatake and was trying to begin to walk down a better path than the past years. Many citizens doubted he could, but none would dare whisper a word too loud in fear he could hear them. But he did— he's Sasuke Uchiha and being overly perceptive is something he considers a blessing and a curse— and even though he did hear the whispers around the village and see the fear in the eyes of those he passed on the streets he did not sway. He could not be broken because Uchihas did not admit to weakness so easily.

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She knew he was coming before he even arrived because his chakra signature was so unlike anyone else's. So thick and heady and absolutely alluring. He had tried to kill her before, and she questioned her sanity over the fact that she felt safe when he was nearby. Sakura was in an empty exam room at the time, getting some paperwork together in a manila folder when in a moment he was in the room with her. She had felt him coming a mile away but was not expecting him to drop by to see her. The window swung open gently and chilly November breeze blew through.

His greeting was brief but she was not expecting more than that even though it had been about half a month since she last even saw him, less spoke to him. He had been busy helping Naruto and the other ninja recovery squads in rebuilding Konoha. She had been busy as well, being second in command under Tsunade at the hospital. But still, she was able to find time with Naruto. Her relationship with Sasuke was very unlike her relationship with Naruto— two days was the most time that has ever gone by before she heard from her blond haired best friend again.

Sasuke was not a man of many words. His dark eyes locked onto hers and he simply says: "Sakura. Something is wrong with my arm."

And immediately the spell her has on her the moment they locked eyes disappears and she zeroes in on his arm and begins examining. Sasuke watches her with muted curiosity as her small hands hold on his arm. The pink hair she has up in her bun is slowly falling out and is framing her face. It tickles his arm and he resists the way his mouth tries to tug up into a smile.

He doesn't smile because he's proud— he wants to be unaffected and strong. And it was because he was so damn proud that he refused to even entertain the thought that he was attracted to her. In his typical fashion, he avoided her at all cost. Seeing her walk down the street in his direction was enough to make carnal desires flare up. He ignored them, suppressed them, and some days it just swelled and showed itself in frustration towards her.

He briefly muses about the thought of seeing her talk to one of the young shopkeepers in town one day last week— Daichi Ishikawa. She had stopped on her way home from work to pick some ingredients up to bring home for supper. Innocent and beautiful, she would pick up different vegetables and examine them and out came Ishikawa from behind his shop's stall to talk with her. They exchanged words, laughed, and he picked out vegetables for her. When she handed him money he refused and shook his head. Sasuke watched as Sakura blushed at something he said and then nodded and laughed. Ishikawa held out his hand to shake hers, and Sakura smiled and did the same. Then off she went, as Ishikawa _definitely_ stared at her behind as she did.

Sasuke, at a nearby weapons shop at the time, squashed the delicate tomato he had been munching on with his hand. It exploded all over the ground and he glared down at it. He was now not only upset about Sakura's exchange with Ishikawa, but he was upset that he squashed his tomato.

The weapons shopkeeper's eyes were as wide as saucers and she looked very afraid.

"I would like to buy this," Sasuke said suddenly, holding up a single metal shuriken. He handed her more money than necessary and told her to keep the rest.

Sasuke was trying to devise an evil plan in his head on what to do with the shuriken to possibly maim Ishikawa when Naruto came up from behind him and put his arm around his neck. This successfully distracted Sasuke from the whole interaction that had just happened and he ended up letting the vegetable shopkeeper live.

This brings him back to reality to realize it had been a couple days since the incident and Sasuke wonders if Sakura had any more encounters with him. Ishikawa obviously found her attractive and that bothered Sasuke for reasons he did not understand.

"Would you _please_ just sit still Sasuke-kun?!" Sakura huffed, her cheeks flushed in frustration and her expertly placed hands glowing a soft green. The chakra reminded him of her eyes, he realized. The fact that the thought even crossed his mind made his blood boil a little more.

He didn't answer her, but didn't dare interrupt her work. She was the easing the pain from the chakra block that had occurred in his arm. His pale arm was flipped, his palm facing upwards, and all the veins in the immediate area where Sakura worked were glowing the same green as her warm chakra. _Warm._ He grit his teeth- why was he noticing little and insignificant things all of the sudden? The action unconsciously made him clench his fist- which hurt so much he hissed in pain. Sakura's concentration was immediately shattered, and the warm chakra disappeared. He yearned for more.

"Why'd you stop?" He asked flatly. "I'm still in pain, medic."

Sakura guffawed and tucked a strand of hair that had fallen out of her bun to behind her ear. She was trying not to show it, _he knows_ , but she is worried about him. His chakra blocks are occurring more frequently and she can't find the reason why. He's seen the illness that he feels afflicted with before, but only once when he was much younger- his late cousin had this problem.

Again, Sakura raises his arm straight out and runs her fingers around his skin. She stops on a scar and places two fingers atop it, they glow for a split second, and the scar disappears. He chuckles and she raises a brow at him.

"You can leave my scars," he tells her. This is not the reason he's come to see her at the hospital anyway.

She smiles and she makes another scar on his arm disappear, but does not make eye contact with him.

"Trust me, I'm a doctor."

He feels his lips try to form a smile, but he quickly composes himself. His chakra block is not the reason he's come to see her either, or he would've come when it happened two days ago.

He realizes he misses her voice.

"And besides... I only eased the pain in your arm. I haven't removed the block yet. It's..." _Pretty serious. And I'm concerned._ She doesn't finish her sentence.

He tries to push chakra forward through his arm and the pain is blinding. He almost falls over in his chair, but Sakura steadies him.

"Don't be an idiot!" She scolds him. "You know better than to force chakra into your arm right now! Let me concentrate and don't move your arm _at all_ this time, got it?"

He nods once, the pain settling a bit as immediately she begins her work again. She doesn't speak for the next hour as she works on his arm. Sometimes she shifts position and sometimes she presses her fingers against his skin but never once does her chakra waver. He regards her silently, the way her brow is creased in concentration and the way she closes her eyes at times, seeing things in his arm that he cannot. And he suppresses the way her chakra calls to him, how it ignites his very being, and how he wishes she would never stop. He closes his eyes and takes in the feeling of her warm chakra and her soft breathing. He completely forgets the pain in his arm and he breathes deeply, her smell further putting him at ease at a place he hated being — the hospital. And then... _Adrenaline_. He feels blood begin traveling to part of his anatomy that he finds completely inappropriate under the circumstances. But he can't stop- her skin is so soft and the chakra is so warm-

"Sasuke-kun..." she says softly. Her chakra disappears from his arm, and she is tapping on his arm where the block was. "I think I did it..." she trails off.

His eyes open and all he can focus on is her. She has not looked up at him yet, and instead is assessing her work. She takes his hand and presses it into a fist and releases, and then she takes a clipboard that was on a side table next to her chair. Without letting go of his arm, she scribbles down something on the board with her free hand. His eyes are locked on her face.

He rather likes her face, he thinks. This is an odd thought for Sasuke, as until the war ended he did not see pretty things. He only saw things for their usefulness and not for any sort of pleasure. _Pretty_ , he comes to the word. He likes her face because it's pretty.

She releases his arm but is still accessing it carefully. "Will you make a fist for me now?"

He does, and there is no pain. Her smile catches him off guard, and she scribbles something down on the clipboard again.

His carnal urges are acting up again, hitting him like a ton of bricks and suddenly the air in the room is much to thin for him to think straight. He feels like he's zeroing in on a target, except he's not in battle with anyone except himself.

"Now... try to direct a small amount of chakra to your hand. Not too much, please- I just want to see..." she says softly.

And he does what she says in an instant, his eyes still fixated on her. He realizes he would do anything she asked of him at this moment. His chakra flows down his arm and to his hand without a problem.

"Did that hurt at all?" She asks him, grabbing hold of her clipboard again.

"No." He answers, and truthfully all he felt was the feeling of a bruise where she had been working. No more pins and needles as before. And there was another feeling, but it was in his pants.

 _Tell her about it_ , a sarcastic voice in his head laughs at him. And just like that, he's embarrassed and angry again.

She writes one more note the board and places it down on the table. She gently takes hold of his rolled up sleeve and pulls it down so delicately that he commits to memory what her fingers feel like against her arm. Afterwards she looks up at him, and her jade eyes open wide in a bit of surprise. His gaze is so heated and he looks so flushed that she worries she has done something wrong.

"Sasuke-kun... Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" he answers her calmly, but his heart is hammering in his chest and he doesn't know why.

"Your sharingan..." she says, and she can't break his line of gaze. His eyes used to scare her— but now, she finds she can't look away because she doesn't want to. She briefly wonders if she is in an illusion now but realizes she would have known the moment he cast one.

Sasuke blinks once, twice, before it registers what she's saying to him. His sharingan and rinnegan are activated. He closes his eyes tightly. He doesn't mean to scare her, especially since the war just ended and people are still uneasy about him.

"Is everything alright, Sasuke-kun?" she asks him, a little worried that his eyes activated after she had just healed him. _Have I caused him pain?_

"Yes, thank you for healing my arm." He says, standing abruptly. He keeps his eyes closed for fear he's scaring her.

He's out the window in a fraction of a second, and all Sakura feels is the breeze from the crisp fall day in his wake. She smiles softly and stands up, slightly dizzy from healing his arm. It was the end of her day— it now being 5pm, and she had been at work since 5am this morning. It had taken her last bit of chakra for the day to remove the block in his arm.

She tries not to show it, but she is very worried about him. She's been coming in two hours earlier than when her shift begins at the hospital to lock herself up in the lab and run tests on his blood. Today was the third time his chakra had become blocked since the war ended half a year ago. The blocks come randomly— he hadn't been doing anything particularly strenuous since the end of the war. He and Naruto have been together almost every day helping rebuild Konoha into the once great village it was. Not fighting— but actually getting along.

He had mentioned to her once that someone in his family had this same affliction and the Uchiha medics knew how to handle it, and that lit a fire under her to try to solve it herself. She walks back to her office, the clipboard labeled "Uchiha Sasuke" tight against her chest. She feels fatigue setting in, but it is not enough to calm her curiosity.

She shrugged off her white doctor's coat and put it on the back of her chair, releases her long hair from the bun she's had it in all day, and grabs the apple from her lunch (that she didn't have time to eat today). Taking a bite, she locks her office and heads out of the hospital.

She's home before she realizes it as she's so absorbed in her thoughts, and also so tired that she isn't really paying attention to what's happening around her. She thinks she stopped twice on the way home, once at a local takeout place to bring a dinner for two home and once to say hello to little Haru, a four year old boy she healed from a lung illness.

She unlocks the door to her apartment and puts her food and Sasuke's file on the table with her other paperwork. Her table looks like Tsunade's office when she was Hokage. She looks down at her watch and realizes Tsunade will be here any minute now. She gets some sake from the kitchen and pours herself a cup as her mentor bursts into the apartment.

"Good Evening, Sakura!" she announces with a smile. Sakura notes that Tsnuade looks a lot better now that she's not running the village but instead the hospital itself. It's her comfort zone and it shows. "To what do I owe this special occasion that you've invited me over for my dear apprentice?"

Tsunade sits down at her usual spot at the table when she comes over and Sakura pours her some sake and opens the takeout. She doesn't answer at first, but then realizes she doesn't really have to, since Sasuke's paperwork is all over the table.

"The Uchiha, huh?" Tsunade asks.

Sakura nods, sitting down next to her and opening some of his files. "I'm very worried, shishou. I'm so scared that his chakra blocks are going to get worse- because I know they're not getting better. I can remove the blocks, but they're getting increasingly more difficult... and more frequent."

Tsunade nods and her eyes scan some of the results from the blood Sakura had taken from Sasuke.

"His blood looks totally normal... Interesting. Usually someone afflicted with a chakra block has abnormally shaped blood cells for at least twenty-four hours..." Tsunade says, opening the to-go box and helping herself to some shumai.

"He mentioned once that someone else in his clan had some chakra blocking issues and that the Uchiha medics knew how to alleviate the pain."

"Ah. He has no other information than that?"

Sakura shook her head and popped a dumpling into her mouth. "Not that he'll share with me."

Tsunade scoffed. "Well, does he want your help or not?"

Sakura blushed and sipped some sake. "He doesn't know I'm researching his condition."

Sakura's mentor didn't answer, but raised an eyebrow. She should have guessed. Sasuke is not one to ask for help to begin with. But Sakura is right to worry, frequent chakra blocks means that there is a serious issue with the last Uchiha. And he must be in serious pain.

"It would be much easier to find answers if the Uchiha compound wasn't so off-limits..." Tsunade muses, a finger under her chin as she thinks out loud. "Perhaps you could as Kakashi if he would grant you access for the day and see if you can find the medical building?"

It's a good idea, but there's a hole in the plan. "When Kakashi asks me why I want in to the compound, what am I supposed to say?"

Tsunade doesn't say anything. She knows the plan has been squashed before it can come to fruition. Sakura obviously doesn't' want anyone to know that Sasuke has a potentially life-threatening medical conditional. If Kakashi knew, he would have Sasuke doing menial tasks instead of helping with village rebuilding and wall defense.

There is silence for a few more moments before Tsunade speaks again, "You came into my office last week and brought a proposition for a children's hospital in Konoha. I told you we don't have the room right now, nor the proper amount of space... Well. Tomorrow is the village meeting for what will become of the abandoned Uchiha compound. I say you go and propose turning that land into a children's hospital... That I have the fullest faith you can run."

Sakura immediately blushes as the compliment and is suddenly very excited. She's wanted to open this children's hospital ever since the little boy Haru she worked on was healed and hugged her tightly from his hospital bed to thank her.

She wonders then, what Sasuke would think of a hospital on the once great Uchiha compound. She thinks about seeing if she can meet with him tonight to talk about it before she proposes a plan along with other villagers tomorrow at the meeting.

 _Sasuke._

"But how does that help Sasuke?" Sakura asks.

"You will be allowed on Uchiha land as lead of the future hospital," Tsunade began. "You will lead the teams in the renovations and planning. I'm sure no one will notice if you sneak away for a minute and... do some research of your own."

Sakura thinks for a moment and realizes what a good idea it is. "Two birds with one shuriken."

"Right!" Tsunade laughs. "I knew I made you my apprentice for good reason! I'm on the board for the meeting tomorrow, so I'll have one of the seats next to Kakashi as we listen to the ideas from the villagers. I will back you up, as I would like nothing more to see you begin running a new children's hospital. Think of all the space that would free up in the normal hospital! This is great!"

Sakura nods, reassured that Tsunade will be there tomorrow too.

"Now I would love to grace you with my presence all night long but I have a date tonight!" The blond smiles and announces suddenly.

"A date?" Sakura says skeptically.

Tsnuade gets up and pushes her chair in, but takes her cup of sake with her. "And by 'date' I mean there's a new type sake in town at my favorite bar."

Before Sakura can really answer her master is out the door. She sighs but laughs too, and is glad she had this conversation.

Sakura comes to the conclusion she wants to meet with Sasuke before the town meeting to propose her plan about the new hospital on his family's land. From the beginning Sasuke has refused to be apart of anything that involved that land, he didn't so much come within one hundred feet of it. Still, she felt obligated to bring it up and tell him. So that's when she finds herself walking towards his apartment around 11pm.

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Sasuke had been home for awhile. He was off for the day and had not joined Naruto for lunch or been out much since visiting Sakura at the hospital today. His apartment was dark except for the one lamp on in his bedroom and he laid with his back on the bed and his eyes on the ceiling.

He was brooding.

He didn't know what to make of the feelings he had but he knew that they all involved Sakura in some way, shape, or form. He had known Sakura for many years and never had these feelings become so intense. It's like all of a sudden a switch had gone off in his mind (and his dick) and he wanted nothing more than to bend her over and suck at her neck and mark her as—

— his.

He swallowed hard. He comes to the conclusion that something is very wrong. Maybe he's sick and maybe he needs to see doctor —

— like Sakura.

He sighs rather loudly and puts an arm over his forehead. His eyes close and he tries to clam his mind and body. He even thinks of speaking with Naruto to ask him if he's ever encountered such a feeling before and how he overcame it.

But first.

First.

He needed to alleviate some pressure. He unzips his pants.

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She feels his chakra before she knows whether or not he's even home. She walks up to his door and before she can raise her hand to knock (courtesy, of course, he must have felt her coming too), she hears something rather peculiar from his open window.

 _"... feels so good.. I've waited so long... ."_

Sakura turns bright red. It was Sasuke's voice. She was just _so curious_ though- so curious with the slightest tinge of hurt- that she doesn't immediately retreat from his doorstep. She wonders who is with and if it is that girl with the red hair and glasses that he used to travel around with.

The thought makes her upset, more upset than she should be. She turns on her heel and retreats down the stairs that led up to his apartment. She crosses her arms in the cold, her hot breath causing her to look like a dragon in the night. She's still blushing and her heart is beating very quickly.

She knows Sasuke and her are _not_ together, but she had hoped that now that he was back with Team 7 things would get better between them. _She had hoped._ But still, how could she expect him to wait this long for her? Maybe she should've have made a move sooner, but she was so scared of pushing him further away from her.

 _You're really annoying._

He's a twenty-two-year-old man and he has needs. She wonders how many women he's been with, and she begins to feel a little numb. She suddenly feels like she's lost a race she didn't know she was in. But there are no tears— no, not this time. She is stronger and she is grown.

"You aren't with him, Sakura..." she scolds herself on her way back home, rubbing her gloved hands together in an attempt to get a little warmer. Inside she's on fire.

She realizes that she's never dated anyone, let alone let anyone touch her. _Maybe it's finally time I let him go and try to meet someone else,_ she thinks to herself. _Maybe I should take Daichi up on his offer for lunch._

She walks herself home in silence under the stars, and is proud of herself. Her eyes did not even get watery- she realizes it would have been stupid to cry when she was not losing something she had in the first place.

Still, she wonders who is in his bed tonight.

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It feels so good to relieve his tension that he almost feels tears in his eyes. He's close, so close. He can almost feel her, smell her, even taste her chakra in the air around him. He's absolutely addicted to her chakra signature and he swears he can still feel it around him.

 _"Sakura... Fuck, I'm gonna come..!"_ Sasuke hisses, his cock hard and throbbing. White beads of pre-cum gathered at the tip of his cock and his teeth were clenched so hard they were almost grinding.

He finally explodes, his cum spurting in gushes through the air, all over his hand, on his boxers and on his bed. His eyes are shining in the night, blood red and deep purple. His heart hammers hard in his ribcage and he takes several breaths before he can form a rational thought. And there is only one that comes to mind.

He wonders how many more times he can do this before his hand no longer suffices.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm glad you all are enjoying this story! I'll do my best to update once a week! Doc Manager has made me CRAZY- if things are in crazy italics I apologize... Working on it!

xoxo PenguinAzelia

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Sakura sighs and stretches her muscles. Her breath leaves her in small cloudy puffs in the cold morning air and she thanks the rising sun for the warmth on her skin. The meeting later today is on her mind and she decided to get up early to train and clear her head.

She's on one of Konoha's many ninja training grounds, and this one in particular was made for her. It looked a little different than the other training grounds, and mostly because the ground had been super-reinforced from underneath so that it wouldn't explode as easily under her force.

She tightens the gloves on her hands and begins her training.

She is excited and a little apprehensive about the meeting. She had been up for a long time last night writing up scripts and plans and ideas for the new children's hospital that had been just a dream for so long. The meeting this afternoon could very well determine whether or not it would ever happen.

But still, in the back of her mind, she wonders if she is being disrespectful to her Uchiha teammate because she hasn't brought up the idea to him. A voice in the back of her head tells her she should have knocked on his door anyway, despite hearing passionate noises from his window.

The ground cracks at her feet, and the giant oak tree is unearthed before her.

She respects Sasuke greatly— without his contribution during the war, everything could have just... ended. Without Sakura healing the ninja army in the background and both Naruto and Sasuke on the front lines— there's no way they would have saved the world.

She decides that she respects Sasuke, and she is not as hurt as she thought she'd be at the thought of him with someone else, because her young and irrational Genin love for him had grown and developed into something much different. From a young age she swore she loved him, and the day the two of them were made the same team with Naruto she thought everything was meant to be.

But that was infatuation... not love.

She grew up with Sasuke on Team 7, and the day they found themselves facing off against Zabuza and Haku left her paralyzed in fear for both of her teammates but her heart tugged for the raven haired Uchiha. In the end, Haku's mirrors came crashing down, and when Naruto was the only one left standing, Sakura's heart might has well have shattered to the ground with the mirrors. Her feet moved before she was even able to think about it.

She fell to her knees by his side and the tears— they came so quickly and without warning. Shinobi rules meant nothing to her at that moment. All that mattered was he most certainly was dead and there was nothing she could do about it. She felt it a little then, the inklings of what true love actually is. It was creeping in on her heart, but not yet, she was still mistaking what she was feeling. She would take awhile to recover, but if this was the end, she would recover from his death.

It wasn't until the Forest of Death that she felt it felt it for real. It was serious and heavy and if she thought for a second the Uchiha had her heart in the past she was so _so_ wrong.

After Orochimaru had marked him, he writhed in pain on the ground as she hopelessly watched. At the time there was absolutely nothing she could do except provide comfort and that wasn't enough. And desperately she wished there was something, anything, that she could do. As she watched him struggle, scratching the skin off of his neck where the bite mark was, the feeling she had felt back when she thought he was dead from the battle with Haku came back tenfold.

 _I can't lose him.  
_  
It was so sudden and suffocating that she realized she loved him. Really, _really_ loved him to the marrow of her bones. She wasn't sure how she would really be able to live with the loss of him in her life. He grabbed her hand and held on tightly before letting the pain take him into unconsciousness.

 _I'm here_ , she whispered to him.

And he heard her.

And as he laid with his head on her lap, tears found their way to her eyes again. And this time it was a different kind of emotion. It was love, she was crying because he was alive and she loved him so damn much.

And that was her terrible, awful downfall. Because when he left the village that fateful night after his fight with Naruto, she knew her heart would never really heal from it. Because she saw it in his eyes— pain. Longing. His path was a different one than hers, and he was protecting her from it. In another life, he would have chosen her.

And she cried when he left, the day after, and the day after that.

 _Shinobi Rule #25—_

 _No matter_

 _What happens_

 _True shinobi must never_

 _Show their emotions  
_  
So today, when she thinks of Sasuke happy with someone, her heart swells at the thought. He's back and he's happy and that's all she's ever wanted for him, being with or without him in her life. Her love had developed into something rooted so deeply in caring for him that she could look past her own happiness for him.

The ground she stomps on cracks and splinters, if not reinforced would have caused a crater in the earth. The tie holding her hair, which had been up in the bun, snaps and wisps of pink fall around her face. She's let her hair grow long, almost as long as Tsunade's. She wonders if she should cut it soon.

She has an affinity for his chakra, and it's little things like this she worries about a bit. There is a lot of different chakras out there— even in this very village— but she's found herself addicted to his in an extreme way. She feels almost like an animal who has imprinted on another. She sighs.

His chakra, so dark and thick, had distracted her on his doorstep last night so much that if she had been paying attention she would have definitely noticed—

— that there was no other chakra in his house besides his.

Sakura takes a drink of water and picks up her towel to dab at the little beads of sweat on her forehead. Looking up at the sun still rising in the sky, she knows about an hour has passed and now is good time to call it a day for training and go home to shower and prepare for the meeting.

She walks home like a normal civilian. She finds that after the war, civilians get a little jumpy and anxious when ninja run around the village at speeds they can't quite see. The way home, which would have taken just about two minutes on rooftops now takes about twenty on the streets. She doesn't mind the walk though— it's a cool down from her training.

Sasuke's made it abundantly clear on many occasions that he doesn't care what happens to the old Uchiha land and that she shouldn't worry about it. He's said it was cursed and he's never wanted anything to do with it. But being on a team for so long lends a little bit of clairvoyance to her situation. She knows him. She knows he's proud and he's stubborn and he definitely cares about what happens to his clan's land. She wonders if maybe he's home now and if she should attempt knocking on his door again.

She connects to a road that leads through the main street for outdoor shops in Konoha, the one she usually takes when she's heading home from the hospital, and sees how many shops are just setting up and getting ready for the day. That's when her acute hearing picks up—

 _"... that's her!"_

She turns her head and there he is: Daichi, the young vegetable shopkeeper. He was talking to an older man who was helping him set up, by the looks of it probably his father. She smiles at him as she passes, as to not make things awkward. Her hearing is above average for being a ninja, and again, she doesn't want to scare anyone. So she waves as she passes as well, but does not stop until—

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Over here!"

 _Daichi._

Sasuke begins to wonder if he has gone crazy. Maybe his past is finally catching up with him, maybe the gods have decided to have fun with him to atone for his sins— because he sure thinks he's starting to lose his mind. He can certainly hear his brother laughing at him from the heavens.

Nothing else would explain why he was watching Sakura interact with the vegetable shopkeeper again.

From a distance.

In the shadows.

With his chakra masked.

It's like he's in a mission, and he's not quite sure what his goal is.

He actually feels a little embarrassed about the whole thing but he's not sure how to deal with the emotion so instead he decides on remaining in the shadows. _Good plan_ , his subconscious jabs.

Sakura had clearly come from training this morning, she had black skin-tight leggings and a dark red thermal ninja-grade training shirt on. Her hair was down and slightly a mess, which Sasuke rarely ever saw— she almost always had it up and away from her face or pin-straight. And _kami_ he liked it down.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! Over here!"

 _The vegetable man._

Sasuke's adrenaline spiked. He closed his eyes and shakes away the sharingan.

Being polite as usual, she walked up to him and said hello and they are currently in a conversation. He does not attempt to listen to what they are saying, and instead tries to bring back into focus why he was the shops this morning.

 _Oh yeah._

And then he remembers.

They talk for a bit, and then Sakura is handed a bag of produce without asking and without cost. She looks down into the bag and sees a little bit of just about everything. She blushes and thanks him, telling him she really doesn't have to take this.

"I'll meet you there at six tonight then?" Daichi asks, and he ignores her refusal of the fresh vegetables. He's clearly nervous but extremely charismatic. Sakura even finds him a bit cute, but she hasn't determined whether or not she's attracted to him. Sure, shinobi date regular citizens all the time but she wonders if that's what she wants to do. A lot of those relationships fail because citizens cannot understand the obligations, the missions, or the stress of constantly being able to lose someone if they are sent away for months at a time. It's a lot to deal with that only other shinobi understand.

"That would be perfect, Daichi—" she finds herself saying. And then suddenly, all the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up. It's that chakra she knows so well and here so suddenly that it must have been masked before or she would have felt it coming.

"Is anyone working at this shop over here?" a very annoyed voice snaps.

She turns around to the vegetable stand. Sasuke.

Daichi turns his head back to the stand and apologizes to the Uchiha, and then turns back to Sakura.

"See you later then, Sakura-chan," he tells her. "I have to get back to work."

Sakura would have answered but she gets caught in the way Sasuke is looking at her. She turns around and walks over to him. Now would be a good time to tell him about the meeting today if he isn't busy.

"How can I help you?" Daichi asks politely. He sees the way Sasuke is looking at Sakura, and from man to man, he knows it's a look that says: _she's mine._

But she's not his.

"Tomatoes," Sasuke snaps. "I'm here for tomatoes and there are none here. You clearly sell vegetables, I find it sub-par that you do not have any in stock."

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura says.

And then it's like there's no one else in the world except her in that moment, because the way her green eyes look at him he swears makes him a bit unsteady on his feet.

Daichi narrows his eyes at the honorific that Sakura had used for Sasuke, and finds that he's subconsciously sizing himself up against Sasuke. He's heard the stories, but he decides that Sasuke doesn't look so tough.

"Sakura," Sasuke answers.

And then Daichi is confused, as Sasuke did not use any sort of honorific for her.

"What are you doing here?" she asks him. She's blushing, and it does not go unnoticed.

 _Staking a claim._

"I'm obviously trying to buy tomatoes from an inept vegetable stand."

Daichi glares at him, "Sir—"

"Oh," Sakura says, too distracted by what she wants to tell him to be offended by his tone. "Hey, can I talk to you about something? Are you very busy right now?"

And then something in the back of his head tingles, kind of like the feeling he gets when he's about to be attacked. He realizes he does not want to talk to her right now for fear he might do something out of his own control.

"I'm busy," he snaps, and it comes off a little crueler than he intentioned. She doesn't catch the look he gives right after, his eyes apologetic.

Daichi raises his eyebrows at the exchange the two are having, a million questions running through his mind. These two clearly have a lot of history. Sakura nods and her head bows down in submission to him squeezing her paper bag of vegetables to her chest a bit. The bag crinkles and she says, "Of course, sorry for bothering you Sasuke-kun. Another time. Thank you for the vegetables, Daichi."

He realizes he's embarrassed her, and he regrets it.

She turns her pink head around and continues down the street towards home. Both the Uchiha and Ishikawa watch her behind as she leave. Sasuke snaps out of it first and glares at him.

"Do you have tomatoes or not?"

Daichi looks to him, even though Sasuke is a little taller he is not afraid. "I'm afraid not, sir. The last of the fresh batch I had I just gave to Sakura-chan."

 _Drop the honorific_ , Sasuke thinks bitterly. _You don't have a chance._

And then he thinks: Sakura has tomatoes. He wants to follow her.

 _If you had been a little nicer and let her talk with you she might have given you one_ his subconscious grumbles. He realizes he's become extra grumpy now that he won't have tomatoes for a couple of days before the vegetable man restocks.

He looks down the road Sakura walked, her chakra signature calling to him. He breathes a deep breath, again, he can almost taste it in the air.

"Are... you and her...?" Daichi can't help but ask, the encounter they just had was so weird.

Sasuke doesn't look back at Daichi, but answers "no" to the unspoken question. Because it's true, isn't it? He finds that the answer to the question he was just asked makes him a little uneasy.

He realizes that the truth is that Sakura will always have his tomatoes.

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Sakura huffs as he walks down the street and away from the two at the vegetable stand. She can't believe Sasuke wouldn't give her a minute of his time so that she could talk to him about the summit today. Her blood boils a bit, and then she hears from a distance...

 _Do you have tomatoes or not?_

 _I'm afraid not, sir. The last of the fresh batch I had I just gave to Sakura-chan._

Sakura giggles and looks down in her paper bag at the plump and juicy red tomatoes. _Serves him right_ , she thinks. _No tomatoes for you._

After getting home and showering, Sakura got dressed for the meeting and took the long way to the Hokage's tower to kill some time. Compared to yesterday, today was much warmer in temperature— there wasn't much sun, but Sakura was grateful that the chill in the air was gone and replaced with a gentle breeze. She realized that she was actually quite nervous to bring up her idea to the summon, and not because of Sasuke, but because she wasn't sure if everyone would like her idea. She thinks of the logistics for a moment and goes over facts. There was only one hospital in Konoha and it was almost always packed and busy. Since the end of the war, it seemed that there were never enough beds to go around. Plus with Konoha being such a ninja-driven village, a lot of times children who were coming in for regular check-ups would see broken and bleeding nin being wheeled in on stretchers for the emergency room. These were things that children weren't meant to see.

With the route she has taken to the tower, she realizes she's passing the Uchiha compound that lay just across the river. This spot is the only spot in town where you can look right into the compound without the rest being walled off. ANBU would regularly patrol the compound and those caught trespassing would be severely penalized; she can read the _NO TRESPASSING_ sign from across the water in its big red lettering. And then, suddenly - she swears she sees the shadow of a figure run through part of the complex, but she senses no chakra.

Unless the chakra is masked. And if it is, it's masked extremely well.

Her eyes narrow suspiciously. Who would be masking their chakra to sneak around the compound? Is it the way the ANBU normally patrol the grounds? She doesn't know— and it's also none of her business. But just like last night and what she heard through Sasuke's window, she's still curious.

She sees the flowers blow in the wake of someone's passing, and then is successfully distracted. The flowers she's looking at are a very particular type, and she knows because one of her best friends runs a flower shop— that the type of flower she sees is not indigenous to the village. The flower has a very long stem, almost but not quite as long as sunflowers, with long red petals and a purple and black core in the middle. She isn't sure of the name, but suddenly wishes Ino were here so she could ask her now.

She finds them peculiar and almost suspicious. Were they there the last time she passed the compound? She couldn't remember, but decides to ask Ino about their origin next time she sees her. She figures that of course birds could have been flying above with seeds in their beaks and dropped them to the ground, but the way they were growing— was as if someone planted them.

She glances down at her watch and sees there's twenty minutes before the summit begins. She turns on her heel and makes her way to the tower.

When she arrives, she's surprised to see how many people actually showed up for this. The chair where Kakashi will sit is empty, but there are many important people here too. Tsunade is already present and she is talking to her assistant, who nods her head and disappears. Her assistant is in charge of the hospital when neither Sakura or her cannot be there. Tsnuade gives her a nod as she enters the room and Sakura smiles.

Her jade eyes look over the rest of the people; there are many normal villagers here, all no doubt with their own plans for the land. There are several ninja as well, ANBU, some lower ranking ninjas, but none from her graduating class except—

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

 _Naruto._

The room quiets as now everyone is aware of her entrance.

Sasuke is not here. She feels relieved.

"... There's a seat over here." Naruto is aware that he has embarrassed her, and he coughs once to try to clear the awkwardness. She glares at him but he knows she doesn't mean it. She makes her way over to sit beside him.

"Thank you, Naruto."

The room goes back to its quiet chatter, and Naruto squeezes her hand. "Sorry for being so loud, I'm working on it you know."

Sakura shakes her head, "No it's fine, I appreciate you saving me a seat. But what are you doing here? You have plans for the old Uchiha land too?"

Naruto grins and puts his arms— one bandaged and one not— behind his head. "I have plans all right." His grin is mischievous, and Sakura is curious.

"What is it?" Sakura asks him, distracted as she pulls out her papers that she had worked on the previous night.

"Well... It'll only work if the dobe shows up, which I know he will no matter how much he tries to pretend he doesn't care what happens to the land."

Before she can question him further, the room is silent and Kakashi walks in, in full hokage regalia. Everyone in the room stands at his entrance, including the two members of Team 7, and when Kakashi sits the room does as well.

Kakashi's assistant, a beautiful woman with dark hair and grey eyes, speaks first. She introduces the meeting, and then explains how everything will go. The hokage will speak about the issue, suggestions for the land will be given and then the ideas will be discussed privately by the council and decisions will be announced the next day.

Kakashi has just finished his speech when Sakura feels Sasuke's chakra approach the hokage's tower. She knows Kakashi can feel it too, because as a citizen proposes his plan for the land, he distractedly looks out the window.

Naruto looks to Sakura and grins, "I told you he'd come."

And then the door opens and closes from behind everyone, and the only people who turn to see who entered are the citizens of Konoha. Everyone knows who it is because of his chakra nature.

Sasuke does not sit down, and instead leans with his back against the wall. His arms are crossed in usual fashion.

Kakashi thanks the citizen for his suggestion, his assistant scribbles down the details on a clipboard, and then announces for the next person to begin their speech.

The summit turns its attention to Naruto, who is practically bouncing in his seat ready to announce his plan for the Uchiha land. Sakura holds her breath because she knows whatever he's about to say is going to make Sasuke angry. She can already sense the Uchiha's anger from behind her and Naruto hasn't even opened his mouth yet.

"Uzumaki Naruto, if you would please share your idea—"

Kakashi leans forward in his chair, sensing what is about to happen.

"A RAMEN FACTORY!" Naruto announces. "I think we should tear it all down and build a GIGANTIC ramen factory— Konoha will become the ramen factory of the nation!"

The room is silent. Some people look like they are mulling the idea over in their heads, others are giving Naruto a deadpanned look, and one very intimidating Uchiha is two seconds from wrapping both his hands, one bandaged and one not, around Naruto's neck and strangling him.

"Naruto," Sasuke growls. "This is supposed to be a serious meeting. Why don't you just leave since you're obviously trying to get a rise out of me?"

But Naruto ignores him, "— annnddd who better to run this factory of course, than Uchiha Sasuke himself! We can even call it Uchiha Ramen and we'll sell it in all the stores and serve it in all the fancy restaurants. Our slogan can be 'Get it before it's gone!' because you know— the Uchiha clan—" Naruto tries to make a joke, but nobody laughs. This earns a sheepish grin from Kakashi.

Sakura shoots Naruto a look for being so disrespectful and crosses her arms.

Then suddenly, Sakura feels a flare of chakra from behind her, and Naruto's shirt lights on fire. He shoots up from his seat, his chair clattering onto the ground behind him, and he proceeds to wave his arms up and down.

"Hot, hot, hot!" Naruto cries out.

Sasuke coughs once, a smirk on his face as he runs a finger along his mouth. He resumes he position against the wall with his arms crossed as he watches his idiot best friend make a scene.

The ninja in the room knew what happened, as Sasuke is the only fire-style user in the room. The citizens of Konoha are very concerned— and afraid. Sakura shakes her head and pinches the bridge of her nose.

Naruto sheds the orange jacket and stomps on it to put out the fire. "I got it!" he announces. "No worries!"

 _What just happened?_

 _Did this man really help to save the village?_

It was whispered, but Team 7 heard the whispers from around the room, and consequently all three glared at the male citizen that said it. Kakashi looked over as well, then cleared his throat. The council turns to look at him when he announces, "Enough."

"I'm fine everyone," Naruto huffs, turning around to glare at Sasuke. "I'm so hot I spontaneously combust sometimes."

Sasuke rolls his eyes and isn't intimidated in the slightest at Naruto's glare. The glare says _I'm going to kick your ass later_.

"Take your seat, Naruto..." Kakashi says, breaking through the awkwardness in the room. He turns towards his assistant, trying to pretend what just happened didn't happen. "You've written down Naruto's suggestion?"

She nods once, her clipboard in hand. He nods his head in acknowledgement, and then she announces the name of the next villager who has a proposition. Sakura doesn't pay much attention to the next one, as she is looking to Naruto who's hands are the table in front of him. The skin on his left hand is pink and red from burns from Sasuke's fire, and she knows that his hand is going to blister within the next hour. She can't really stop the medic in her as she finds herself reaching for his hand with hers and placing it gently on top of his.

This earns the looks from one or two people at the table, and Naruto looks over to her in surprise but his question is answered by the gentle chakra he feels healing his hand.

"I'm okay, Sakura-chan..." he whispers with a smile. "Really."

"Shut up and let me do this," she doesn't even look at him while she heals him, but pretends to give respect to the person speaking instead.

Naruto smiles and he slyly turns around to smirk at Sasuke. Sasuke gives him a bored look, but Naruto can tell by the straining muscles in the Uchiha's neck that he's not happy.

Sakura is the last to speak at the council, and when she is called to stand up, Sasuke is not expecting it. She mentally thanks the gods for placing her at a position at the table where her back was facing her raven haired teammate.

Sakura's voice is strong and unwavering as she makes her case at the summit. She talks about the overflowing hospital, how there never seem to be enough doctors, rooms, or beds for everyone. She talks about how the Leaf is a very big military village in the ninja world, how so many nin are brought in and out, and then she talks about the children— and she has the summit's full attention.

She explains how the idea came to her suddenly, and it was because during one of her ER shifts where broken and bleeding shinobi were being rushed in from a mission gone bad outside the walls. She tells them how she saw the doors to the ER waiting room swing open for a moment but it was long enough to see Haru— the little boy in the waiting room who's eyes were wide in horror. His mother quickly pulled him into her side so he wouldn't see, but it wasn't fast enough.

She stops for a moment, and remembers Haru in his ER bed crying.

"— it isn't _fair._ Not everyone chooses this life, and for them, and especially for the children, they shouldn't have to see things like that."

She explains how there isn't a specific wing in the hospital for children. That children share the same waiting rooms for normal check-ups as grown ninja. She explains how some people wait with their children for hours and aren't able to be seen because nin appointments just stretch much longer than the normal person's.

"We need a hospital where children can be born, where they can be rehabilitated, where they can come in for normal check-ups with a reasonable waiting time. Kids are kids, and regardless of whether or not they are in the academy training to be a ninja or learning their parent's trade—" She swallows hard and clenches her fists. "They should not be subjected to the darker side of being a ninja. It's not fair— they shouldn't grow up in fear of becoming one or in fear of being attacked by one. We have to start moving in the right direction with the new generation."

She looks straight into the eyes of her shishou, who has a smile on her face as she listens to her pupil make her piece. "I would not want my children seeing things like that."

And then she is silent, and the room is silent, and she takes a deep breath and bows her head in thanks. Kakashi's assistant is scribbling on her clipboard furiously and Sakura takes her seat again. Naruto reaches over and squeezes her hand, she turns to him and he gives her a smile. Kakashi is beaming at his pink haired pupil, and relishes in how much she has grown. His eye meets Sasuke's, and Sasuke himself looks impressed as well.

"That was the last person," Kakashi's assistant announces. "The Hokage will discuss these suggestions with his board and then the plans for the land will be announced by tomorrow evening. Thank you for your suggestions, you are all dismissed."

"Your idea was amazing, Sakura!" Naruto exclaims. "But do you think it'll beat my ramen factory idea?"

He is walking in between his two teammates as they exited the Hokage's tower. It's a vision, really, the three of them together again. Pink, orange and black— the combination is striking and it earns some sideways glances from the people they pass.

Sasuke pretends he doesn't hear Naruto's comment, and rather keeps his hands in his pockets and asks, "What happened to your shirt back there, dobe?"

Naruto growls and Sakura sighs.

"C'mon Naruto, it's been forever since the three of us have last been together. Let's at least try to get along?"

He likes Sakura's voice, Sasuke thinks. And then finds that he is annoyed that he is separated from Sakura by Naruto. Why is Naruto always the one in the middle? His fists clench in his pockets; he's not sure if he's more annoyed by the fact that he is noticing these things more often or the fact that they're happening.

Naruto starts rambling about how Sasuke lit his shirt on fire, and Sasuke has already tuned him out.

"Hey, let's all get lunch?" Sakura asks, changing the subject. Her arms are wringed behind her back, kind of like how she did when she was younger, and for a moment Sasuke sees her as a genin again.

"Yes! I'm hungry!" Naruto announces, putting a bandaged hand over his stomach.

Sasuke doesn't answer immediately, and he feels weird about going to lunch after the meeting. He kind of just wants to be alone, it's his default reaction after sitting through what will become of his clan's land. And he also does and doesn't want to sit down with Sakura in fear their legs might bump under the table or something. He's tried pretty hard to keep control and not to touch her at all.

"I can't, I have things to do today..." Sasuke says, and in a flash he disappears.

Naruto crosses his arms, "Sometimes I worry about his mood swings..."

Sakura sighs, "Do you think I offended him by not telling him about my suggestion before announcing it at the meeting?"

Naruto shakes his head, "Do you think I offended him?"

Sakura laughs and punches his arm playfully. "You sure did."

"Don't be worried about offending Sasuke. Your suggestion is coming from a good place and I'm sure he much rather have you suggest something than someone random."

"Well, I'm actually going to head to the hospital for a bit..." Sakura trails off, suddenly wanting to lock herself up in the lab and run some more testing on Sasuke's blood since she had time on her day off.

"But what about lunch?"

"Sorry Naruto, another time, ok?"

"What about dinner? C'mon Sakura, when's the last time we were all off together? I'm going to drag Sasuke out of his apartment if I have to."

"I'm busy tonight... I'm sorry! I'll let you know what days are good for me next week and hopefully we can meet up?"

"Alrighttttttt," Naruto whines. "Looks like Sasuke and I are going on a date. The rumors are going to fly like crazy."

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It's much later in the evening when Naruto drags Sasuke out of his apartment for something to eat. They end up going to a restaurant and sitting across from each other. They talk for a bit, or mostly Naruto talks and Sasuke listens, and their food arrives.

"What did you think of her idea for the land, Sasuke?" Naruto asks, taking a bite of his sushi.

Sasuke shrugs, fakes indifference, and takes a sip of tea.

"I know you, Sasuke. And I know that you thought it was the best suggestion today because _it was_."

Sasuke is distracted, because he feels her chakra suddenly approaching the restaurant he and Naruto are eating dinner in. His body warms as it gets closer.

"Did you invite Sakura?" Sasuke asks, suddenly a little panicked.

Naruto nods, "Yeah, but... she said she was busy tonight. Maybe she ended up being able to make it after all. But... that wouldn't really make sense..." he puts his chopsticks against his chin as he thinks. "... I never told her where we were going..."

And then in walks Sakura. She's wearing casual clothing, a light blue top with black pants and a black jacket. Her long pink hair is in a braid, and wisps of pink hair frame her face. She looks absolutely striking, as she always does, and Sasuke is staring at her butt again. Was it always that supple looking? He wants to touch it.

And that's when he realizes that Sakura did not walk in alone.

But with another man.

And not just any man.

It's the motherfucking _vegetable_ man.

Naruto is silent as he turns to see Sakura walk in with a guy. His eyes widen a bit, but he smiles and gives her a wave. She waves back at them with a smile, her face blushing very hard. He knows that she sensed them as much as they sensed her coming. The whole situation was a little awkward on both ends.

"Can you believe she blew us off to go on a—" Naruto says, but his sentence drops off when his head turns back to look at Sasuke, who has full view of the whole thing without having to even turn his head. Sasuke's black eyes are fixated past Naruto, and the cup of tea he is holding begins to boil and steam.

 _Don't even fucking say it._

Naruto laughs nervously, "Sasuke, chill out."

Sakura and the vegetable man are seated across the restaurant, and Sasuke watches as they sit down across from each other. He doesn't even pull the chair out for her, he thinks bitterly. She deserves better.

"Sasuke—" Naruto begins. He doesn't understand why he's glaring so hard over at Sakura, and then piece by piece, Naruto starts to understand the situation. Naruto is no idiot.

And then Sasuke hears the vegetable man say something to her, and hell it _must_ have been _so funny_ because the sound of Sakura's soft laughter comes to his ears.

The porcelain cup cracks clatters onto the table, the liquid already all evaporated from the boiling steam. A waitress comes over and quickly apologizes about the cup, cleans up the pieces, and promises more tea on the house.

Naruto tries to hold back his laughter.

Sasuke's eyes are closed and he pinches the bridge of his nose. He doesn't understand why his heart his hammering so hard, why he's feeling this strange, foreign type of pain that he is not used to at all. It threatens to consume him, and the only thing he feels will help him alleviate it is to snap the vegetable man's neck.

 _First no tomatoes, now this?_

... Is this why the vegetable man called Sakura over to the stands today? He had tuned them out since he was so determined on his quest for tomatoes. If only he had paid more attention.

"Sasuke," Naruto says his name, and he's serious enough that it warrants Sasuke's attention. He lifts his eyes to glare at Naruto, a mismatched red and purple.

Naruto finds his lips tugging up in a smirk, "You have it bad, man."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello my fellow SasuSaku fans! I appreciate your feedback for this story! The last two chapters were a bit choppy— I had a little bit of trouble uploading the docs from my computer. I would lose italics, line breaks, etc. which made things a bit irritating. After I publish this chapter my plan is to go back and clean things up a bit!  
**

 **I just wanted to note that this little bit of the Naruto story arc falls before all the Naruto couplings that happen. So basically, Naruto is not with Hinata yet. And Sasuke has not gone traveling. And Sasuke and Naruto both have bandaged Zetsu arms. I think that's it...  
**

 **Much Love, Penguin**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3:**

* * *

Sasuke found himself back at Naruto's apartment after dinner. It took him a quick second to figure out _how_ he ended up back with Naruto, but then realized he was practically dragged out of the restaurant after Sakura and Ishikura showed up.

 _Sasuke, you tried to light her date on fire, that's not nice!_ and _No, you're coming back with me! If you think I'm gonna let ruin Sakura-chan's date, there's no way!_

He briefly muses on the site of the vegetable man on fire and the thought tugs his lips up in a smirk.

"So people saw that the two of us went to dinner alone _and then_ you came back to my place. The things I do for you, Sasuke, really... The whole village is going to be talking tomorrow about how we went on a date and then went home together..." Naruto huffed, making a disgusted face. "That's gonna do great for my reputation with the ladies."

"You don't have a reputation with the ladies," Sasuke countered, crossing his arms. He was currently leaning against the wall with his shoulder, looking out of one of Naruto's windows. The moon reflected gently off of his face, as it did throughout the room, as the only light Naruto had on in the apartment was the dim kitchen light above the stove.

Naruto is sitting on the couch, his arms both spread back against the back of the it, and he sighs audibly. "Neither do you, apparently, as Sakura-chan has picked a civilian over you." Naruto lets the comment sink in for a moment and then says, "It surprises me that you _care_ that much about her, for the longest time I figured you were asexual."

 _Fire._ Sasuke wants to light things on fire. Sasuke can hear Hashirama's words, how Uchiha have the tendency to just _feel_ emotion so strongly, that it is both their greatest strength and hardest downfall.

Naruto is smiling like the cheshire cat in the dark, knowing that he is getting under Sasuke's skin.

"I don't care who Sakura is with," Sasuke decides.

But Naruto can see right through Sasuke's body language.

"Bull _shit_. You forget that I _know_ you, Sasuke. I know you better than anyone else, and I know that you feel something for Sakura and it scares you because you've been an emotional ice cube for so long."

Sasuke doesn't answer. _An ice cube?_

"And because you're an emotional ice cube, you've waited too long to act on your feelings and you're losing her to one of her _many_ admirers."

 _Many._

Sasuke begins to regret saving Konoha.

"I'm going to give you some man-to-man advice," Naruto begins. Naruto can hear even Kurama snickering inside of him. _Go back to sleep!_ "If you want Sakura, you have to make a move. She has cared for you for _so_ long. When you left all those years ago to run to Orochimaru, she cried for _days._ She wouldn't even leave her house, and when she did, it was to beg me to bring you back to Konoha safely. When we found you years later in one of his hideouts, as brief as it was, she wouldn't stop talking about it for days. She kept going through scenarios— _if only_ she had done this of _if only_ she had said that—" Naruto clears his throat. "Then later on, when she heard about your fight with the Kages, she told me to give up on you. She told me she was _in love with me_ and didn't want any harm to come to me if I went after you."

 _Sakura told Naruto she loved him._

"... And I know she loves me and... I love her. For awhile I was _in_ love with her."

Naruto has Sasuke's full attention now and he ignores Sasuke's chakra flare.

"... I _could have_ acted on it. I had _years_ to act on my feelings towards her— you were out of the picture, and I could have made her happy." Naruto shakes his head and smiles wryly. "... But she never looked at me the way she looked at you. I knew when she told me she was in love with me that she was lying. I knew she loved you so much more that she was numb from it. She _still_ loves you today; she will always take your side and always defend you. But love is not one-sided, and she has never been with anyone despite all the interest many have shown. Maybe she feels like it's time for her to move on, since she isn't getting anywhere with you and she has wasted her life chasing after someone who doesn't appreciate the effort."

Sasuke remembers how his chakra peaked uncontrollably at the restaurant, how the building shook and lost power for a moment. And then as Naruto threw money down on the table, grabbed his to-go box and dragged him out of the restaurant, he remembers how Sakura's chakra reacts to his and reaches out to him. It rushed over him and through his body like a wave. He was absolutely addicted to it.

"You don't need your sharingan to figure what your next move should be."

* * *

The date didn't work out.

Sakura is very bummed because she really had tried. They just weren't compatible— he spoke about crop cycles and it bored her to tears, and she spoke about chakra and her latest medical breakthrough and he cringed during the entire conversation. He was a gentleman, and he insisted on paying even though Sakura told him she would be able to pay for herself, and he hugged her goodbye and told her he'd see her at the shop again.

On her walk home, she thought about how awkward it was that Sasuke and Naruto happened to be having dinner at the same restaurant that Daichi chose. She felt their chakra as she approached the building, and tried to offer going elsewhere, but he _insisted._ She tried to make it as least awkward as possible and waved over to them before being seated, and Naruto gave a friendly 'this is so awkward but I'm trying to make it less awkward' wave back. She was worried the most though, over what Sasuke would think— it didn't really matter that she was trying to move on because he still held her heart so tightly.

She had felt his chakra spike during dinner tonight, Naruto must have said something to make him angry or she feared his illness might be acting up, and whether it be because they were once teammates or _something_ — her chakra reacted. It immediately reached out towards his attempting to soothe him. Sasuke did not look happy tonight, and Sakura wonders how Naruto dragged him out of his apartment for dinner in the first place.

Sakura gets home and and kicks off her shoes on her way to the bathroom. She lights the little cluster of candles near her jacuzzi-sized tub, and runs the water. She just wants to relax and calm down and ready herself for another day at the hospital tomorrow. She shakes the thought of wanting Sasuke to join her in the tub, laughs bitterly at her mind being so cruel to her, and when there's plenty of water in the tub, she sheds her clothes.

She wonders what the council has decided on the Uchiha land. She wonders if tomorrow she will learn the news that she is going to be the lead of the new children's hospital of Konoha.

As soon as her skin is submerged in the hot water, her mind changes its course as per usual. She wonders if Sasuke would join her in her tub if she asked—

 _"Sasuke-kun, join me?" the imaginative version of herself asks.  
_

 _"Sakura... I don't think this is a good idea..." imagination Sasuke answers.  
_

 _Sakura drops her bathrobe to the floor, revealing her creamy skin and womanly figure._

 _Sasuke moves towards her and Sakura can feel his arousal poking at her through his clothes. Her hand reaches down and finds him and she begins to stroke. He is ready for her, he wants her, and her pussy is wet for him._

"I think it's a good idea," she answers. "Let me... do this for you."

She is on her knees in an instant, and he has her on her back in the next.

Sakura's hands find her pussy, and she slides her own fingers inside. This is not the first time she has touched herself thinking about Sasuke, and most likely would not be the last.

* * *

Sasuke wakes up the next morning with a stiff cock and he chooses to ignore it. He does a pretty good job until he heads to his kitchen to get breakfast and he starts poking into things.

 _"Fuck!"_ he hisses, staring down at the bulge in his boxers. "Calm down!"

His peen does not waver. It's a little painful.

 _I already took care of you before bed last night,_ he tries to reason with it. It doesn't work, so he moves on to the method of distraction.

The coffee maker is already on when Sasuke cracks an egg in a bowl and begins to scramble it. He gets some peppers and onions (he would have used tomatoes too, but apparently there is a tomato shortage in Konoha says the vegetable man). Sasuke himself is very good at cooking— he's raised himself, and he remembers back to when he was in the academy and would come home and cook himself dinners (enough so that he could take lunch the next day as well). He had many cookbooks, as through the years the monotony of the usual things has gotten boring. It has been awhile since he'd looked inside a cookbook, these days all he reads are mission statements and scrolls— but he finds himself itching to pick one up again and take up the past time he was once so good at. All his old cookbooks, along with his remaining belongings, had been confiscated when he abandoned the Leaf and became a missing nin. He wonders if they had been trashed or if they're in storage somewhere.

It isn't long before his basic scrambled eegs are finished and his bread pops up in the toaster a few moments later. He fills a cup with the dark coffee and sits himself down at the table. He finds that suddenly it feels... empty. There are four other chairs, but only one place setting— his. He eats in silence and thinks about what it would be like to not actually _be_ alone. It's a feeling that's unsettling, because it's different.

In a brief moment, he swears maybe he sees a vision— possibly a side effect of the rinnegan, or post traumatic stress from the war— but he sees Sakura coming from the kitchen to sit at the table next to him. She looks just as she does now in real life, except her belly is bigger— she is expecting a child. She is laughing at something from across the table, and when he turns his head he sees a little girl. The child is in striking resemblance of himself, with coal black eyes and dark hair. And that's when he sees it, the red and white emblem on their clothing— they are _his_. They are the revival of the Uchiha clan. And then as fast as the vision came, it was gone. Sasuke was left a little winded, wide-eyed, and alone at the table once more.

 _What was that? My family?_

He rubs his eyes. What a cruel joke that was— he looks at the clock and sees that he has to be going to meet Naruto and the other nin at the wall in about an hour for another day of rebuild. He cleans the kitchen, takes a shower to rid himself of the feeling his vision gave him— but the feelings do not waver. Was this lifetime, or another? Was that a vision of what _could have_ been? He runs his hand through his wet hair, the spikes on the back of his head still unflinchingly even when soaking wet.

He decides to pretend that it didn't happen, because it's the only rational way he can deal with it right now. He's out of the shower and dressed in the next few moments, and out the door before his hair can even dry all the way.

He takes a detour on the way towards the wall today, and heads straight for Konoha's cemetery. In his hands he carries flowers with long red petals, and when he reaches the grave he kneels down. Gently and methodically, he digs up a little bit of the earth with his hands and plants the flowers.

He is planting flowers at his mother's grave.

This is the first time in a awhile that he's visited her, but he had been planting his mother's favorite flower throughout the compound since he'd been back in Konoha. It was something that felt therapeutic for him and it healed his broken heart a little bit. The ANBU never saw him coming or leaving. When Sasuke didn't want to be seen, he was most certainl _y_ _not_ seen.

He looks to his side and can't shake his head of the vision he has of himself, as a young boy— just weeks after the massacre. He wonders if he is experiencing a side effect of the rinnegan again, but his thoughts are quickly sidetracked as he sees the little vision of himself crying at his mother's grave, then the vision disappears and flashes to him curled up and sleeping next to the stone inscribed with "MIKOTO UCHIHA". Finally he sees his little self on his knees, planting flowers at this very same grave. He is almost brought to tears at this lost vision of himself; from the outside looking in, he looks so broken and helpless and alone. _It will get better,_ he thinks. He thinks of how Team 7 became his family and how thankful he is for them... And then his thoughts are back to Sakura Haruno. He looks back at his mother's grave once more.

 _Mom._

He pauses for a moment, unsure how to continue. He's never been very good at this.

 _They're going to begin planning what becomes of the Uchiha land today. They are going to tear everything down and rebuild. I'm not sure how I feel... I am happy that a place with such terrible memories will be torn down, and I am regretful because... not all of my childhood was bad._

He can see his mother cooking in her kitchen, he can see his father and brother training outside. He hears laughter.

 _Those broken buildings hold many ghosts of my past. My path to revenge started there. Maybe when everything is torn down... it will be healing for me. I no longer seek revenge or a path into the darkness... And I owe it to Naruto... to Team 7. I have conquered the Uchiha curse of hatred, and with my victory the curse is dead. It can no longer be passed on to future generations.  
_

There is no answer but the chilly breeze, and he puts a hand on his mother's gravestone.

 _Are you proud of me, mom?_

 _I miss you._

 _I wish you were here._

Sasuke did not come here to be emotional, but he had not spoken to his mother in a long time. He reserves speaking to his family only when he visits their graves. Sometimes he swears he hears her laughter, or hears her say his name on the wind's breath, and it is comforting to him.

 _... But I'm not alone anymore._

He sees Sakura's silhouette in his mind.

 _For the first time, I know what it feels like to want someone in my life._

 _It's a foreign concept— I'm not used to it yet, but I'm getting there. I wonder sometimes if it is even fair of me to attempt to pursue her. No amount of prayer can make up for the terrible sins of my past—_

he looks down at his hands, and remembered the day he confronted Team 7, nearly blind, and held Sakura by her fragile neck. _And most days it's enough for me to stay as far away from her as I can._

He feels he owes it to Sakura. He does not feel comfortable near her, in constant fear she is judging him about his past or _wors_ e—that he's frightening her. He feels that maybe their relationship will heal over time, or maybe not at all. What he wasn't expecting were the feelings he had blocked off for his entire life come to him tenfold and direct themselves straight for her. He is feeling for the first time, and his body is most reacting to it.

 _I fear I will hurt her more than I already have— that I will never be the man she wants me to be. I am haunted by the ghosts of my past and that is something I do not want to involve her with.  
_  
His lips pull up in a sad smile.

 _But I've always been the selfish type, haven't I?_

He kisses the fingers of his hand and places them on top of the gravestone.

 _Goodbye, mom._

For just a moment, he closes his eyes and bids farewell to his mother. And he swears he can hears it, faintly, but it's there and unmistakably his mother voice—

 _You deserve happiness._

* * *

Sakura had a long day at the hospital.

She had gotten to the hospital about an hour before her shift began, as she usually did, to lock herself up in the labs. She has an entire binder labeled with Sasuke's name, and a lot of inconclusive conclusions.

Sakura does not understand his blood cells. They're an anomaly to her; not all of them _allow_ chakra flow. Some of his cells just... reject the passage of chakra completely. She had never seen anything like it before, and she knows it won't be long before another block occurs in his body. Her heart thumps in her chest, and she could hear it in her ears. She's so desperately worried about him— she sees herself as a genin holding him helplessly as he struggled with the cursed seal, and she does not want to be helpless anymore. She's determined to _fix_ him.

She had spent hours testing different things on the vial of blood she had taken from him when the first block occurred, but had nothing to show for it.

 _Why now?_ she thought. _What is causing this to happen now?_

Perhaps it happened during the war, or maybe it had started happening during his time in the Sound— she wouldn't really know. He is not exactly forthcoming with information about his past. It was just recently that he was back in Konoha since the end of the war, and to be honest, she was surprised he was still around the village. Her heart tugs at the thought of him leaving her again, but she presses it down.

 _He's not interested._

She wonders, if the blocks occurred in past, if he had done anything to treat them or if he let them just pass with time, as small blocks usually clear themselves up. Then she thinks of Karin, his medic, and wonders if she did anything to help him. She wondered if she should try to contact Karin but didn't even know where to begin looking for her since she had all but vanished since the end of the war.

Sakura knows the chakra pathway system inside and out. Along a ninja's chakra pathways there are three hundred and sixty one nodes called _tenketsu_. Tenketsu are like pressure points where a shinobi's chakra can be released. These pressure points are located and connected all throughout a ninja's body, and for example, if a tenketsu is blocked in your upper leg, you can just about forget about sending chakra towards your foot. All that is going to cause is extreme pain— and worse, more damage.

Sakura had cleared many chakra blocks before, but she had never experienced reoccurring blocks like Sasuke's. Because they're frequent, she knows that there is something underlying that is causing them to occur. She wonders if it's a virus, and in that case, is it contagious? She also wonders if it's a disease, and in that case, curable or just treatable symptoms?

 _Every time I try to come up with answers I'm just left with more questions,_ she muses.

She wished she had someone to talk to about chakra pathways other than Tsunade. The other medics in the hospital knew about chakra pathways as it is integrated in their studies, but not many had hands-on experience with it. She needed someone who could literally look into Sasuke's body and see his chakra pathways, and suddenly, she saw the image of white eyes flash across her mind—

 _Hinata! Why haven't I thought of this before?_

* * *

When the follow-up meeting at the hokage's tower is called to be, it is at 5PM. Sakura comes from the hospital to attend, and Naruto and Sasuke come from a day of rebuild at the walls. Naruto and Sasuke arrive first, but then Naruto beckons Sasuke to _wait_ for Sakura to arrive— with an irritating wink, he says that it would be the _gentlemanly_ thing to do. Sasuke ignores the fleeting thought that Naruto thinking that he is not a gentleman, but does indeed wait for Sakura to arrive. When she does she is walking as a civilian would towards the tower.

"Here she comes!" Naruto smirks, getting up from the bench he had been waiting on. "Sakura-chan, over here!"

 _That_ emotion again, Sasuke is hit with it as soon as she is in his sight. It is _feral_ and it is getting _worse_. He wants to bend her over and—

"Naruto, Sasuke-kun, hello. How are you today?" Sakura asks, looking between the two of them. Her eyes linger for a moment on Sasuke's as he's looking at her very intensely and it makes her squirm a little bit.

 _Even after all these years..._

"Good! We spent all day working at the wall. How was your day at the hospital? More importantly, how was your night last night?" Naruto asks with a wink.

Betrayal washes over Sasuke, but Sakura has not betrayed him because she is not _his_. He's glad he's naturally pale as the blood drains from his face. He wonders if she's even been with man— he was gone from the village for many years, and she could have much more experience than he does. And he's had _a lot_ of experience— with his hand. He suddenly feels inadequate, and he has never let himself feel that way about anything.

Sakura instantly blushes red and ducks her head down a little as she diverts her gaze to her shuffling feet. "Sorry I didn't join you guys last night. And I didn't leave _with_ him if that's what you're getting at." She steals a glance at Sasuke, and his face is indifferent as usual. "But I did notice you and Sasuke-kun left together, so how was _your_ night?"

She was suggestive about it, and it didn't go unnoticed. Both men turned up their nose at each other.

"Sasuke was having _a little issue_ last night, I'm sure you noticed the mini earthquake his chakra caused?"

She did. Sakura's eyes meet Sasuke's for a moment, and Sasuke looks irritated that Naruto is telling her this.

"... He was having his usual anger management issues," Naruto covers his mouth and leans towards Sakura, "... between you and me I think he has stopped going to his anger management classes."

It was _juustt_ loud enough for Sasuke to hear.

"... so for the integrity of the building and the safety of _everyone_ inside, I dragged him out."

Sasuke notes that Naruto has said "everyone" and Sasuke's killing intent had been very particularly on Sakura's date.

"Are you feeling alright, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asks, biting her lip. _Did his illness flare up last night?_ she wonders. _  
_

"I'm fine." He answers, and it bites at her a little bit. It's enough to tell her that he's not _fine._

"Oh. Kay then," Sakura nods and crosses her arms, a defense mechanism that she usually does when she's uncomfortable.

Naruto turns to glare at Sasuke, who in turn glares back at him. They're having an internal argument and Sakura sighs and comes to terms with the fact she will never really understand their relationship. Since Sasuke was back, the two of them got along and fought like they had always been a team— like there wasn't a dark period in-between their genin and jonin days. Sakura felt a little left out, because she felt as far from Sasuke as she normally did. Seeing him the past couple of days was the _most_ she's seen him in months since he's been back.

"We... should really head inside now," Sakura says, walking past the two and opening the door.

Sasuke is the first to listen and turns to follow her.

* * *

Everyone who was at the summit yesterday is here again today, Sakura notices. This time instead of standing in the back of the room, Sasuke has taken a seat next to her, which has her heartbeat pounding like crazy. Naruto has her distracted, sitting on the opposite side of her, talking about how he just _knows_ that she will have the winning write-up.

All considered entries had to not only brought up during the summit but also written on paper and handed in for review. Sakura's hand-in was a hefty binder filled with sketches, plans and work to be done. When Sakura asked Naruto what his hand-in looked like, he told her he hand-wrote one of his favorite ramen recipes.

"Well, you definitely had one of the more creative demonstrations..." Sakura can't help but laugh at his boyishness.

"Eh, well... I just wanted to get under Sasuke-teme's skin."

Sasuke's ears perk at his name, and he turns his attention to Naruto. "For _your_ sake, you better pray Sakura's idea wins."

Sakura blushes— and she suddenly wants to ask him if he actually likes her idea. Sasuke is not a man of many words, but in his own way, it kind of felt like he was telling her that he approved of her idea for the land and that made her _so_ happy. She resists the urge to stand up and _CHA!_ in the air, as Kakashi is now walking into the room. He is followed by his assistant, two well-known Leaf Aristocrats, the ANBU captain, and Tsunade. Sakura desperately looks at Tsunade from across the table, waiting for her to give some sort of sign as to whether or not her idea was chosen but Tsunade does not look in her direction.

She swallows hard and folds her hands on the table. Kakashi begins to speak, and the room is respectfully silent.

"I would like to thank each and every one of you for your ideas and contributions towards planning what happens to the land sectioned in A-7, where the Uchiha police force, respectfully—" Kakashi's eye meets Sasuke's, "— _was_ in the past. It has been over ten years since the land was last used and since then it has been guarded in the case of disrespectful vandalism and destruction. I feel like it is time to move in a positive direction as Konoha is being rebuilt into something even better than it was before the war.

Yesterday we had many suggestions for the unused land. A new shopping area for better economy, more training grounds for our ANBU defense squads, new housing for those who lost their homes during the war..." He looks to Sakura and there is a hint of a smile on his face. "... a children's hospital, because our current hospital is no place for them."

"... and a ramen factory," Naruto chides in.

Kakashi sighs and lets out a small chuckle. "And of course, a ramen factory. I must say your write-up for the reasoning of a ramen factory was quite gripping. What recipe was that again?"

"Miso ramen with extra pork is my _favorite_!" Naruto smiles widely.

"Baka," Sasuke says under his breath, his eyebrow twitching slightly. This earns some sideways glances from people sitting at the table from around the room.

"Regardless, I have discussed this matter with my council and we have made our decision."

Sakura is suddenly so nervous that her leg starts bouncing up and down underneath the table. This is what she has wanted for _so_ long. Her eyes look to Tsunade again, but Tsunade is not meeting Sakura's eyes and it's driving Sakura crazy.

 _What if I don't get this?_

 _What if I don't get to look into the Uchiha medic building?_

Sasuke can sense Sakura's nervousness, and being so in-tuned to her chakra nature (he hasn't _quite_ figured out why yet, as it is not a conscious effort), he can feel her chakra bubbling nervously inside of her. Without really thinking, his hand moves slowly under the table and finds her leg to rest his hand just above her knee. It stops her leg from bouncing, and Sakura's eyes are wide when they meet the sideways glance of his onyx ones, and his expression cannot be read. He squeezes her leg lightly, and sparks fly through her body. Sasuke has _never_ touched her in an attempt to _calm_ her. He has never touched her unless absolutely necessarily. His chakra is calming hers and is also causing something very different entirely—if he would just move his hand up a little higher—

Sakura is blushing and _very_ embarrassed. In fact, she thinks, she might be having slight arrhythmia because suddenly she feels a little dizzy and her heart is about to explode from hammering so hard in her chest.

 _You thought you were over him_ , a voice in the back of her mind cackles.

Sasuke on the other hand, is suppressing the feeling of his pants getting suddenly tighter, but can't work up the nerve to move his hand away from her leg.

Everything comes back into focus when she hears Kakashi say:

"The land will become a children's hospital, and Sakura Haruno, you are more than qualified to be the lead. I trust as leaders of the hospitals in the village, both you and Tsuande will make a good team. The new generations are our first priority _always._ When we can assure better care of them, we will lay the groundwork for a positive future of this village. That is why we have come to this decision."

The room is silent for a moment and everyone has turned to look at her and begun clapping. Sakura's mouth drops open just a little, as there are so many emotions running through her body that she isn't sure which to process first.

"Congratulations," Sasuke is the first to tell her. He removes his hand from her leg.

Three... two... _one..._

"CHA!" Sakura shouts, standing up and balling a hand into a fist. "Thank you all so much! This hospital has been a dream of mine for a long time and I won't let you down!"

* * *

Sasuke is genuinely proud of her.

The way that she smiles as she walks between her and Naruto and talks about her plans and how excited she is makes him... _happy._ He is happy that his family's land can do this for her and make her this way. He is reminded of his vision this morning, of Sakura wearing the Uchiha crest, and his heart swells inside of him. The feeling is so foreign to him that he isn't sure how to deal with it.

 _You deserve to be happy_.

This time, when Naruto asks the two if they'll join him for dinner they both agree.

They spend awhile talking about the future, and a little about the past, before Naruto tries to wink at Sasuke subtly and announces that he is tired and going to sleep early as he has a long day tomorrow. Sasuke and Sakura watch Naruto's retreating form and then they continue eating in silence for a few moments. Immediately it's a little awkward, as there is obvious tension between them.

"I'm glad there's a hospital being put in place on my family's land instead of a ramen factory," Sasuke says.

Sakura feels her face warm up a little bit. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun. I wanted to bring up the idea to you beforehand, but..."

"I'm not offended. I did not care what happened to that land, but I am glad now that something good is coming out of it. I'm sure you'll do a great job in the planning," Sasuke says. "And by the time I come back to the village, I wouldn't be surprised to see you well into the building process."

Sakura's eyes widen. "By the time... you come _back_?"

 _Where are you going?_

Sasuke nods and finishes the food in his mouth— which seems absolutely agonizingly slow to Sakura— before he speaks again. _Ever the gentleman._

"I'm going on a mission with Naruto," Sasuke says bluntly. "Tomorrow morning."

This has Sakura's attention— his chakra blocks are the first thing that comes to her mind.

"What kind of mission?"

"S Rank," Sasuke says matter-of-factly, his eyebrow raised as if asking her _what other rank would the hokage give me?_ "The village has received some threats tracing back to a village in the north, about four days' travel away. The Leaf is weak right now and many feel it is their opportunity to threaten it."

"So Kakashi is sending the both of you to investigate?"

 _Not me?_

"That's one way of putting it," Sasuke says, taking another bite of his food.

 _That's because Kakashi doesn't know about your chakra problems,_ she thinks.

Sakura knows he means that there are battles ahead, and Sasuke should not be anywhere near the battlefield right now. What if one of his blocks occurred while on an S-rank mission? He would be a danger to both himself and Naruto. She wants to come along, but realizes she can't. She's needed too much in Konoha right now.

So Sakura finds a loophole.

"And which physician at the hospital cleared you for such a mission?" She asks evenly.

There is a moment of silence, Sasuke finishes the food in his mouth, and then meets her gaze.

"... What are you talking about, Sakura?" His voice saying one thing, but his tone saying _what are you trying to do?_

"Sasuke-kun," she lowers her voice as she speaks, so those around would not be able to hear. "Those chakra blocks that have been happening through your body could lead to other things— _worse_ things— and before I figure out what's going on I don't think it's a good idea—"

"It's really none of your concern," he cuts her off. "I'm fine. So stop it."

"But it is! As the medic who treated you... and as your _friend_ that cares for you—" She takes a sip of sake to calm her nerves, she's a little shaky because Sasuke is _not_ going to like this one. "And second to only Tsunade when it comes to the medical field... I _cannot_ and _will not_ authorize your health for this mission until I figure out what's wrong with you."

Sasuke is _furious._

"I knew I should not have come to you with that," his voice is low from across the table, and Sakura is hurt by his admission. "You _cannot_ stop me from going. And I _did not_ ask you to try to find out what's wrong."

He hurt her, he realizes. The voice in the back of his head tells him: _Good. Keep her away because you'll only hurt her anyway._

"You may not be _used to_ the rules of this village," Sakura's eyes were unwavering, and she is aware she is hurting him right back. She is used to his crassness, but he is not used to her's. "But all shinobi going on missions outside the Leaf _must_ be approved and deemed healthy by a medic nin, _especially_ for S-rank missions."

"Let's get out of here," Sasuke says, putting money on the table for their empty plates.

Sakura takes the last sip left of sake and gets up with him. "Please don't be mad at me Sasuke-kun."

"Come, let's talk. I'll walk you home." His voice is like velvet and she follows him out of the restaurant.

They walk towards her apartment side by side in the darkness, the street illuminated by scattered lamps. There aren't many people out this evening, as it is a weeknight. He is silent for about half of their walk before she speaks up.

"You're mad at me." Sakura sighs, running a hand through her hair.

Sasuke takes a breath and inhales the scent of her shampoo, his heartbeat is fast, but her scent calms him a little bit.

"A little. You told me I _can't_ go on a mission after I've already made up my mind." His voice is light, even teasing, and he looks up at the sky for a moment as he walks.

"I'm serious, you _can't,_ " Sakura chides. "I don't want anything to happen to you."

"You know you can't come," Sasuke replies, answering her unanswered question. "You're needed too much here in the village."

Sakura sighs.

"— that doesn't make you less of a member on our team," he finishes.

She wants to tell him that she has spent so much time in her lab trying to find out what it is that he has, but decides to keep it to herself.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I won't approve it... not yet. I don't think you should be going on S-rank missions right now."

"I think Kakashi will make an exception, as we just _saved the world._ "

They reach the stairs that lead up to her apartment and she turns to face him, her arms crossed. "Not if I have anything to say about it."

 _She's cute when she does that. I'll miss her while I'm gone._

"You won't," Sasuke says. He takes her into his arms and presses her against his chest. "Sakura— thank you."

When she looks back up at him, he holds her at an arms length away, his hands on her shoulders. The mangekyo sharingan and rinnegan are staring directly _into and through_ her.

"Sas...uke-kun?" she can't look away.

He feels bad he has to trick her like this, to have her wake up when he will already be gone.

But this is the way he handles things.

"I'm sorry, Sakura. I'll see you when I'm back."

And then slowly, Sakura's eyelids get very heavy— and she feels so sleepy. Her legs buckle from underneath her and she feels herself being lifted in his arms and cradled to his chest before she loses consciousness.


End file.
